Moth Fund Founding Partner Molly Mielke on enabling exceptional individuals early | Ep65

Today, I'm joined by Molly Mielke, Founding Partner at Moth Fund, an early-stage-focused venture capital firm that aims to increase the agency of exceptional individuals using both investment dollars and grants. Her fortes are: storytelling (ex-Stripe/Figma/Notion), early-career talent recruiting, and dot-connecting within the venture ecosystem (former Sequoia Scout). Molly’s goal is to establish a replicable funding model that aligns the economics to incentivize supporting individuals from exploration all the way through to world-shaping company.<br/><br/>Seed to Harvest is a podcast focused on stories & tactics from a diverse array of investors, founders, and creators, hosted by Paige Finn Doherty, a founding partner at Behind Genius Ventures and author of Seed to Harvest, an illustrated children's book for adults.<br/><br/>Connect with Paige 🌱💜<br/><br/>Behind Genius Ventures blog | https://www.behindgeniusventures.com/<br/><br/>Personal Blog | https://paigefinndoherty.com/<br/><br/>Twitter | https://twitter.com/paigefinnn<br/><br/>00:00 Welcome to Seed To Harvest: Molly Mielke<br/>01:13 the idea for Moth Fund<br/>03:57 the beauty of constraints<br/>06:17  overcoming imposter syndrome<br/>11:30 the most compelling trends<br/>14:11 applying for a grant<br/>16:56  finding exceptional individuals<br/>22:00 early stage reflections<br/>24:30 who impacted Molly's ideas?<br/><br/>Show notes:<br/>Molly Mielke | https://twitter.com/mollyfmielke?lang=en<br/><br/>Moth Fund | https://www.mothfund.com/<br/><br/>Sequoia | https://www.sequoiacap.com/<br/><br/>Emergent Ventures | https://www.mercatus.org/emergent-ventures<br/><br/>Tyler Cowen | https://twitter.com/tylercowen<br/><br/>Schmidt Futures | https://www.schmidtfutures.com/<br/><br/>Arc Institute | https://arcinstitute.org/<br/><br/>Speculative Technologies | https://spec.tech/<br/><br/>YC | https://www.ycombinator.com/<br/><br/>Ways of Seeing | https://www.amazon.com/Ways-Seeing-Based-Television-Penguin/dp/0140135154<br/><br/>Brie Wolfson | https://twitter.com/zebriez?lang=en